Reasons to Live
by OnTheBrinkOfInsanity
Summary: A horrible accident leaves all of Anubis in dire conditions. Darker than my usual stories. x


This one is kind of.. dark. I don't know, I'm in a weird mood. So, enjoy.

The plot isn't all mine, I saw it on Casualty.. ;)

As his eyes fluttered open, Jerome craned his neck to take in his surroundings. But, he couldn't see anything.

He strained his mind and tried to remember what had happened. They were going on a day trip, Anubis house. They were taking a big coach and travelling on a three hour journey. The only reason he'd agreed to go was because of his girlfriend, Mara.

He hated the beach. He hated the sand and he couldn't stand the seagulls. But Mara had asked him, asked him to come to keep her company. Unfortunately, he couldn't bring himself ever to deny her something, anything.

The last thing Jerome remembered was sitting at the back of the coach with Mara, her reading a book and him trying to sleep. A motor bike raced out in front of them, the driver swerved and the coach flipped onto it's side.

Jerome tried to lift his torso, so that he could identify the people around him. He needed to find Mara. Straining his eyes, he spotted Amber, a few metres away from him and unconscious. Next to her, Alfie lay, his leg twisted in a way that wasn't natural.

On the other side of him, he could see Patricia was half inside the coach, her legs hanging out. She was laying on shard glass, blood covering her entire torso. Eddie sat at her feet, back held up by the coach. There was blood trickling down his face but he seemed unharmed otherwise.

He couldn't seem to move his neck anymore. Jerome finally realised the state that he was in. A broken piece of the coach lay on top of him, leaving him immobilized and a pain in his side from the weight. After struggling to get his arms free, Jerome attempted to get free.

"Jerome/" he heard someone whisper. "J-Jerome, are you awake?"

"Mara? Is that you?" he said, voice hoarse.

The huge chunk of metal was slowly taken off of him. The pain really sunk in with the absence of the barrier.

"No, it's Joy." She whimpered, throwing the metal to the side. Jerome looked up and saw that she was crying. She had a big gash on the side of her face and their was blood dripping from her ear. "Jerome," she sobbed. "Are they dead?"

He tried to get up but failed. Joy bent down to assist him. "I'm not sure." He hissed at the pain. "Ha-have you seen Mara?"

"Um, yeah." She winced. "She was thrown over behind the coach. She's with Nina and Fabian but none of them are awake."

Jerome's heart nearly stopped. He couldn't bear to even think of his girlfriend being hurt. Dismissing the thought, he finally sat up. "Are they hurt badly?"

"Nina's arm is really bloody, I think it's broken." She sobbed. "Fabian doesn't look that injured, some blood on his forehead but he seems alright."

"And Mara?" he persisted, tears falling from his eyes due to the unbearable pain in his left side.

"Jerome, I don't want to worry you. Maybe we should j-"

"How is she?" he yelled, eyes darkening.

A choked cry escaped from Joy before she answered him. "She… she's twisted all wrong, Jerome. It doesn't look right."

Closing his eyes, Jerome repeated in his head,

_She's just unconscious. She'll wake up._

"Have you called an ambulance?" he asked, not opening his eyes.

But, before she could respond, another voice spoke up, from the left of them.

"Guys," Amber spluttered. "Guys, where are you?"

"Oh gosh!" Joy rushed to her side. "Amber, are you- are you OK?"

Jerome swivelled his neck as far as he could to see them. Amber was sat up, but her eyes were un-focused.

"Joy? Joy, I can't see!" she panicked. "What's happened, why can't I see?!"

The smaller girl shushed her. "Ambs, calmed down! I've called an ambulance, they should be here any minute."

"Where… where's Alfie? Where's Nina? Where is everybody?" she started to hyperventilate.

"Amber, ca-calm down!" Joy steadied her, but the blonde continued to panic.

Jerome winced, hearing the loud sirens of the ambulance. A dozen paramedics rushed out of the various vehicles in aid of the injured teenagers.

"You alright, mate?" the medic that came to help Jerome had a thick cockney accent but Jerome couldn't really see his face. "Do you think you could just lay back for me?"

He did as he asked and laid back down, supported by the man's hand on his neck. "Is- is everyone OK?" Jerome winced at the pain but remained still.

"I don't know son," the man answered truthfully. "But we'll all do our best."

Jerome heard a woman on his left. "She's having a panic attack. Can you go and ask for Lloyd?"

Another woman in front of him, catering to Eddie, yelled. "I need a wheelchair here! We've got some serious injuries to this girl's spine. And, I think this boy's got amnesia. Where's the stretcher?"

The medic who had turned to Alfie, shouted after her. "I need one here too! This boy's broken his leg, it looks bad."

It was all too much. Jerome's head was spinning; he couldn't take it. He blacked out.

**Line Break**

"He's coming around," a woman said. "I think he's waking up."

Jerome half opened his eyes. It was enough to see where he was and who was around him. The woman that had just been speaking, was standing over him, squinting to see if he was awake.

A male nurse was stood next to his bed, smiling when he saw Jerome awake. "Alright, mate?" he said. "You gave us quite a scare."

Jerome opened his eyes a little wider, looking up at the doctor.

"You certainly did," she smiled. "How are you feeling?"

He grunted in response, shifting in the bed. That was a mistake. A sharp pain seared through his body, a stabbing feeling occupying his hip.

"Ah, no!" the doctor steadied him. "You might not want to move for a little while. I've just stitched up the cuts in your hip, it was pretty nasty. And you've broken three fingers, so you need to take it easy."

Jerome's mind was clouded and he couldn't seem to think properly. So he just nodded and settled back down. He closed his eyes again, trying to wrap his head around everything, trying to remember.

But when he finally did, he wished he hadn't.

Gasping loudly, he sat up, despite the stabbing feeling he felt again. "Where… wh-where is everyone? Where's- where's Eddie a-and Patricia. What happened to Joy Is- is Amber OK?" they tumbled out in a blurry string of words but he didn't care. He was feeling nauseous and the room was spinning.

"Jerome! Jerome calm down!" the doctor and nurse tried to calm him, but it was a feeble attempt.

He stopped. He froze. "Where's Mara?" he whispered sullenly. "Where is she? Where is she?" he began to screech.

"Bring his sister in." the doctor ordered the nurse. He nodded and rushed out of the room.

Once Doctor Morden had finally got Jerome to settle down, with a promise of a complete update on all of his friends, the male nurse escorted Poppy Clarke into the room.

"Gerbil," she said quietly. Her eyes were red and it was obvious that she'd already endured her fair share of crying. "Are you OK?"

"Tell me what happened." He said, not asking but demanding.

Poppy shook her head. "Jerome, I think you should-"

"Tell me." He yelled, scaring her a little. But, she complied.

The other tow had left the room so Poppy pulled up a chair and sat next to Jerome, taking a deep breath,

"Amber's blind. She was stuck by the cosh's engine and the gas or something damaged her sight."

Jerome could feel a lump in his throat, tears threatening to spill. But he asked her to go on.

"Alfie's broken his leg and his thumb. He's not speaking. I think he's upset about Amber. Eddie, he lost his memory. He's got amnesia and he doesn't know any of us or what's happened. He doesn't even know his name."

Poppy had started to cry again but she forced herself to go on. "Patricia's paralysed. She damaged her spine and it's connected to her brain, you know. She's in a wheelchair, can't speak or anything. Joy's fine, physically. But… she's gone a bit… she's psychologically damaged. The hospital sent her to the mental ward. Nina hurt her arm and she's got a punctured lung. Last I heard, she was fine. Fabian's gone deaf in one ear and he's got a big cut going up his stomach but, otherwise, he's fine. Trudy is fine aswell, except for a large gash on her arm." She stopped there, not getting to what Jerome really wanted to hear.

Jerome took a deep breath. "What about Mara, Poppy. Tell me what's happened to her."

"Jerome, I really don't think that I should be the one to tell y-"

"Poppy!" he gasped. "I need to know!"

Poppy let out a strangled sob, throwing her head into her hands. "Jerome, sh-she was brain dead when they brought her in." she cried. "They couldn't do anything to help her. Sh-she's dead, Jerome. She's dead."

It was as if all of Jerome's body had stopped functioning. He couldn't breath. He couldn't feel his heart beating. He couldn't move.

He didn't want to. He didn't want to live without Mara.

She was dead. The girl he loved was dead.

**I loved writing that but I hated it at the same time! Should I write more stories like this or..**

**Review and tell me what you think!**

**I **_**was **_**going to dedicate this to Totes Innapropes but I figured she'd want a happier one.. you're still awesome though! Next one, I promise. :)**

**~Insanity **


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